When building a material structure such as a snow fort or castle it is ideal that the process move forward quickly in order to maintain interest in the project. The easier it is to create and construct the more fun and time the user will have to enjoy it. Household containers have a narrow base and a wide top making stacking one block on top of another extremely difficult. In addition the material blocks are often too heavy for children to lift and stack to an adequate building height.
Container style material block makers that are currently on the market are much too small and take to much time to complete a decent structure. More importantly kids and adults are often exposed to dangerous situations when creating a snow shelter from a mound of snow, typically a hole is dug in the center of a mound of snow creating a void space to play in. The weight of the roof of the created structure is a safety hazard due to cave-ins. By using a stackable form to build vertical walls of snow the risk of cave-ins is virtually eliminated, in addition the stackable form users no longer have to drag, push or lift blocks of snow or other material, instead they can continuously create, in a top loading manner, their own blank canvas of the desired material block or combination of blocks to build, carve or mould to a desired shape or structure. By facilitating the material block making process the users are more inclined to participate, continue, complete and safely enjoy their projects. In reference to the secondary function of the invention where a plurality of stackable forms are used to be stacked on top of each other, the invention allows structures to be built safely and efficiently instead of using traditional building blocks or materials that have to be cut, nailed and screwed together such as lumber, wood planks and shingles when building structures such as a house, playhouse, shed or fort.
1. Field of the Invention
446/108, 164/349
2. Background Art
Traditionally, buckets and storage containers are used to form blocks of snow and sand, however tipping or stacking the containers to empty them results in damaged or broken material blocks. Using buckets to create sand castle is a frustrating experience for younger children as they cannot lift and tip them to effectively create a sand form. By using an open top and bottom form they can easily load and lift of the form leaving behind a intact shape. Furthermore multiple sizes and shapes of buckets are required to create a formable material castle like structure. The stackable form is collapsible and can be configured to multiple desired shapes due to the support openings which also allow the users to stack additional blocks on top of previously created blocks.